Winter Outlook?

Forecasters with the Government Climate Prediction Center said this year’s winter outlook has been tough to predict.

The report was released Thursday.

The northeast part of the country falls into the “equal chance category.”

According to the report, that means from December to February, there is an “equal chance for above, near, or below normal temperatures and/or precipitation.”

“They wasted ink to actually put that on paper, like duh. It has to be one or the other, right?” said Kathy Brewster who learned of the report while shopping in Dickson City.

“I know that kind of doesn’t tell you a whole lot, but they’re calling it near-normal, equal chance of above or below or right in the middle there. Doesn’t mean you won’t have severe cold or a few big snowstorms, but I think the odds favor having it a little colder than last winter and a little more snow,” said Newswatch 16’s Chief Meteorologist Tom Clark.

Most people who spoke with Newswatch 16 said they hope this winter is like last winter: mild.

“I don’t like the snow, I like it to be real nice, you know like it was nice and mild and everything,” said Robert Kaffka of Honesdale.

“As long as they’re not saying above average snow, I’ll be satisfied with that,” said Elaine Sporko of Scranton.

“It’s been getting milder and milder with each year. We’re not getting as much snow and the summers are getting hotter, you know, than I remember. I guess we’ll just leave it up to the big man, what we’re going to do,” laughed Cassandra Lestansky of Clarks Summit.

Government forecasters said this winter outlook was difficult to predict because they expected a climate pattern, El Nino, to form and it has not.